Infrastructure Readiness Services from SAS

Introduction

Infrastructure Readiness Services are a range of services that you can commission in advance of placing an order on a Communications Provider for their fixed communications at a new site or where you wish to change the location of multiple services within an existing site. This service is available within the UK only.

These include;

Site lifecycle planning consultancy – an umbrella service that looks to understand how the communications needs of your site will develop over time and apply the appropriate services below.
Pre Site Survey – a ‘walk the site’ service to identify existing communications
Fixed line network in advance – in preparation for new voice and data services.
Fixed line move of existing infrastructure – an internal shift of existing voice and data services
3G/4G survey – a service to understand the mobile coverage of the 4 UK providers either at a new site or within a building as to recommend the siting of an SAS 4G router.
Cabling survey – to determine the internal cabling requirements of the building or site office.
Wifi survey – in preparation for the installation of wifi for both employee and guest access.
Line of Sight survey – ideal for temporary solutions in complex and agile site environments.

All of the services are coordinated by an SAS Service Excellence Consultant. They will initially engage with you to understand the requirements and determine what types of surveys are involved before arranging to meet on site. After the survey(s) the Service Excellence Consultant will produce a report summarising what was agreed and the next steps.

Problems that SAS Infrastructure Services addresses

The services can bring benefits in the following scenarios;

Single Point of Contact (SPoC) for sites where traditional communications and infrastructure doesn’t exist or is damaged, and the location and demands on connectivity will change throughout the project.
- Synergies can also be had by supplying services for construction sites - for use during construction as well as for the landlord and their future tenants.
When you need to understand what connectivity is available or the costs of ECC’s before you sign a lease on a building.
- Often a facilities department will commit to a new office without understanding how long it will take or how much it will cost to make the site operational. A simple check before the lease is signed could save thousands of pounds in office space unable to be used for longer than necessary.
  - As an example, an office for 100 people costs £20k per month in Manchester and more than double, £45k/month, in central London – Source: Regus 2017.
- Construction companies who need to understand the cost of communications infrastructure when bidding for a project.
- Businesses who wish to have more control over the path where services will be delivered.
  - If the planning is left within the circuit ordering process it is treated as series of steps lacking overall ownership rather than a coordinated project.
  - The network in advance survey brings together the customer and Openreach directly with SAS’ knowledge and guidance.
- Businesses who have tight timescales for moving into a site.
  - The range of services can provide connectivity services for the short, medium and long term as well as providing the communication infrastructure for the LAN
- Businesses who are changing the location of their comms room and wish to move all their services together.
  - The alternative here would be to contact the Communications Providers of each individual service (voice, data and internet) and arrange for a shift of each service.

Site Lifecycle Planning Consultancy

We have multiple solutions for networking both for the LAN and WAN as detailed below. This consultancy service, often used with construction sites but available for any site, looks at how that connectivity changes during the lifetime of the project and after.

You may be looking to provide services not only to support the teams on site constructing the buildings, but for the landlord and tenants of the project once it’s been completed and handed over.

A site office for the construction project may start in one part of the site for the first three months before moving to another part for a further period and then again. By understanding the lifecycle of the site the SAS Service Excellence Consultant can advise on the appropriateness of different connectivity solutions at different times and for different periods.

Some element of lifecycle planning will be incorporated into the all aspects of the Infrastructure Readiness Services. To what extent will depend on the complexity of the site and the scope of the project.

Pre Site Survey

This is a service whereby an SAS Service Excellence Consultant surveys a site with you in advance of any order (or possibly signing a premises lease) to see if any existing telecom infrastructure exists in the premises (Copper or Fibre).

This short piece of consultancy work can highlight the delivery complexity (or not) that is likely to be experienced when you come to place an order for communications services.

Network In Advance

Network in Advance is a service that allows SAS to engage directly with Openreach before any connectivity order has been placed, to identify the feasibility of providing fibre and copper to a particular site. The SAS SEC will organise on-site meetings between Openreach planners and your site manager and contractors to “walk the site” and agree plans as well get an Openreach quote for any Excess Construction Charges (ECC’s) or other works required.

The survey stage in a WAN circuit order often comes a couple of weeks into the order process so addressing the largest unknown element – the physical copper or fibre from the Openreach network to your site – early in the process and directly with Openreach, ensures that the order, when placed, should proceed more smoothly.

SAS Service Excellence Consultants are highly knowledgeable in the art of the possible and have often suggested solutions which have lowered the costs of Excess Construction Charges which would have been presented if SAS had not been involved.

The section of the overall report pertaining to network in advance is sent to Openreach as a record of what was agreed that day. When Openreach present their report with ECC’s back, the Service Excellence Consultant will check that the works matched our own report and present to you.

If you accept the costs for the work, then SAS will act as the Project Manager for this work liaising directly with Openreach and you.

Move of Existing Infrastructure

You will sometimes have the requirement to move their comms room due to site expansion or reorganisation. The traditional way to move the communication services would be to contact the provider for each service and raise an internal shift order. However, this results in multiple uncoordinated projects. A better solution is for the SAS SEC to engage BT Openreach and, with you, agree the plan to move all the services, voice and data, all in one go under the same process as described within the Network In Advance service.

4G Survey

SAS provides Rapid Site Deployment services bonding multiple 4G SIMs to create a stable connection back to a hub router. This service can bridge the connectivity gap between ordering a fixed line service and it being delivered, which potentially could be many months later. In the past SAS has bonded together up to 18 SIMs to create a stable, single connection running at 100Mbps.

By completing a 4G survey whilst at site SAS can show not only which mobile operators have the best coverage in the area but also where the Mobile router should be placed within a building to optimise the coverage.

Cabling Survey

This service is carried out by SAS Physical Infrastructure (PI) team under the coordination of the Service Excellence Consultant. The PI team will understand the cabling needs for backhaul from switches, from WiFi Access Points and for physical ports for users and printers etc.

A site plan, report and quote is produced before any work is undertaken.

Wifi Survey

As with the cabling survey, this service is carried out by the SAS Physical Infrastructure team who walk the office space that requires wifi coverage and determines the number and best places to site the Access Points (AP).

An AirMagnet survey showing both 2.4GHz and 5GHz, along with the location of the AP’s is included in the summary report presented by the Service Excellence Consultant.

Line of Sight Survey

The line of sight (LOS) survey may be required to provide point to point microwave connectivity within the site to extend the coverage of the fixed communications. There could be occasions when the logical route for physical cables would cause a highly complex or expensive dig and therefore microwave connections, being less intrusive, would be the preferred option.